Fired Up 5K

With a 7:00 a.m. start and a cloudy sky, the sun was not a factor on this Labor Day morning. The warmth and humidity were factors, however, and my clothes were quite damp with perspiration after only a half-mile warm-up jog!

The crowd at this year's Fired Up 5K was oddly serious. Usually I can strike up a light-hearted exchange with the people around me during a race, but most everyone seemed so focused (or lost in their headphones) and no one wanted to return my chatter. I also seemed to be the only one in my vicinity who cheered on the leaders on the back half of the out-and-back course. Come on, it's not as if we -- "we" meaning anyone running close to my pace -- are actually in the running to win anything! Don't forget to have fun and support the achievements of fellow runners, folks!

The 5K distance is always an uncomfortable one to race for me, because there's little thought to endurance, only speed. There's nothing better than setting your lungs on a low flame for half an hour, is there!? After hustling through the first mile in 8:45, I settled in and held a pace in the nines the rest of the way, but it wasn't easy! At this time, I'd like to thank the nameless lady in the pink running skirt in front of me for her wordless motivation during that tough third mile. :) And I needed it then, too, because I got one of my dreaded waves of nausea with only a quarter-mile left in the race! So I did walk for a few seconds until the urge to heave left my belly.

This is the view runners see as they make their final turn to the end of the course:


Here I am, checking my Garmin unit at the finish as only the geeky do:


I've got a new 5K personal record time of 28:53. This still put me near the bottom of my age group, but I would have been less than a minute from a third-place age-group award if was in the 20-24 age group. Weird, eh?

Link to more photos by the official photographer, Raceshots.net

This was my third time to run through the fire station. I do like this trend:

2005 Fired Up 5K: 35:22
2006 Fired Up 5K: 31:59
2007 Fired Up 5K: 28:53

Just because I know that certain ladies seem to like 'em, here's a gratuitous shot of the resident firefighters thanking the runners for helping them support the Muscular Dystrophy Association:


What I liked this year was that the race organizers automatically entered all registrants into the door prize drawing, and being present wasn't necessary to win. This was much better than last year, when a representative of the community association was drawing numbers in one area at the same time the race winners were being announced and recognized in another. That was just discourteous in my opinion.

One more oddity: There were age group awards for literally everyone. They even had a "no age" award category for males and females that declined to list their age on their registration!!! Guess what? I would have come home with a first-place award if I had simply left the age field blank. Isn't that crazy?

Event: Fired Up 5K (3 Sep 2007)
Location: Fire Station No. 5, Sugar Land TX
Result: 28:53 (chip), 28:56 (Forerunner 101), 9th-of-14 in 30-34 age group
Benefits: Muscular Dystrophy Association